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VIDEO: Jen Psaki Has It a Lot Easier Than Sean Spicer

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Washington Free Beacon

The media were never sheepish in the early days of the Trump administration about hurling questions at then-press secretary Sean Spicer. But in the early days of the Biden administration there has been no shortage of softball questions for press secretary Jen Psaki, including inquiries about color schemes for Air Force One and the measures of “deep cleaning” that were taken in the White House prior to President Joe Biden’s arrival.

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Biden Opens Term With ‘Dubious’ Purge at Labor Arbiter

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Washington Free Beacon

Hours after taking the unprecedented step of firing top federal labor prosecutor Peter Robb, President Joe Biden fired his successor.

At 11:22 a.m. Thursday, the National Labor Relations Board announced that Deputy General Counsel Alice Stock would replace Robb as acting general counsel, overseeing enforcement of federal labor law. By 5 p.m she was out the door after defying a White House request for her resignation. Stock called Biden’s maneuverings legally dubious and a threat to the “validity of any replacement” at the agency.

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“Given the dubious legality of the January 20, 2021 removal of Mr. Robb as General Counsel of the NLRB … it would be detrimental to the operations of the NLRB for me to resign my position,” she said in a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. “The events of yesterday—the abrupt and unceremonious removal of General Counsel Robb—are unfortunate for our country and to those who believed that this administration intended to follow the traditions and rules of law in our democracy.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Robb was confirmed to a four-year term as general counsel. The Biden administration fired Robb, a career management-side labor lawyer, with 10 months remaining in the term. Stock, who arrived at the agency in 2019, said Biden’s handling of the agency could throw the agency into turmoil and disrupt the smooth transition of operations. She pointed to the NLRB’s transition in 2017, in which Obama’s appointees served out their full terms.

“Coupled with yesterday’s events, my departure without notice and adequate time for transition would be damaging to the smooth operations of the NLRB and an orderly transition to a new General Counsel,” Stock said in her letter.

The NLRB had faced public condemnation from organized labor since Robb assumed office. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka celebrated the firing as a victory for unions.

“President Joe Biden has taken immediate action to secure the rights and protect the well-being of America’s working families by removing Peter Robb as NLRB general counsel,” Trumka said in a statement. “Robb’s removal is the first step toward giving workers a fair shot again, and we look forward to building on this victory by securing a worker-friendly NLRB.”

Republican lawmakers said Biden’s unprecedented actions at the agency undermine the independent nature of the general counsel’s office.

“President Biden’s continuous calls for unity and civil discourse upon taking his oath of office are already proving to be empty aspirations,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.), the top Republican at the House Committee on Education and Labor, said of Robb’s firing. “The Biden administration appears to be rewarding their friends in Big Labor.”

Stock echoed those sentiments in her letter.

“I would have expected a more civil and professional approach to the transition from this administration,” she said.

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Biden Skips Guns in Day One Executive Orders

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Washington Free Beacon

Joe Biden Sworn In As 46th President Of The United States At U.S. Capitol Inauguration Ceremony

President Joe Biden (D.) used a historic number of executive orders on his first day in office to deliver on promises made to indebted students, environmentalists, and immigration activists while turning a cold shoulder to gun-control advocates.

Biden’s 17 actions dealt with issues from freezing payments and interest rates on student loans to revoking the Keystone XL pipeline permit to rejoining the Paris Agreement and World Health Organization. His administration announced plans for further executive actions on climate change, health care, immigration, and national security by the end of the month. Despite boasting on his campaign website that he “knows how to make progress on reducing gun violence using executive action” and being historically aggressive in his use of day one executive orders—issuing more than Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton combined—gun control was not part of the day one blitz, and no future executive actions on guns have been announced.

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The Biden administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Experts said Biden’s lack of immediate movement on gun control signals it could be a lesser issue for the incoming administration. They pointed to the controversial nature of the issue and the marginal political benefit executive action offers to Democrats. 

Jake Charles, executive director of Duke University’s Center for Firearms Law, told the Free Beacon “many of yesterday’s orders are less controversial than might be first-day executive action on guns.” He said the lack of action could indicate the Biden administration plans to try to push gun legislation over pursuing executive actions—at least to begin with. Or it could signal a more cautious approach to the issue overall. 

“It’s possible the lack of first-day orders on gun issues may also signal a slower, more cautious approach to gun policy than some regulation advocates hoped—and slower too than the approach some regulation opponents feared,” Charles said. 

Biden ran on historically strict gun proposals during the 2020 campaign promising to fight gun manufacturers as the “enemy” and impose new bans and taxes on popular firearms such as the AR-15 that could reach into the tens-of-billions of dollars. His campaign received $30 million in support from gun-control organizations like the Michael Bloomberg-backed Everytown for Gun Safety. Despite taking office after a record-setting year for gun sales and the emergence of an estimated 8.4 million new gun owners, experts expect Biden will act on gun control at some point during his tenure—even if it isn’t among his top priorities. 

Robert Leider, an assistant professor at George Mason’s Antonin Scalia Law School, said the evenly divided Senate means Biden will struggle to pass any new gun-control legislation and will likely have to resort to executive maneuvers eventually. He said there are several different ways Biden could tighten gun regulations without assistance from the legislative branch. 

“The Department of Justice, particularly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, will have primary rulemaking responsibility,” Leider told the Free Beacon. “This rulemaking probably will not begin until President Biden has an adequate number of political appointees in place at the Department of Justice.” 

Leider said the administration could target unfinished firearms receivers—sometimes called ghost guns—for new regulations, restrict the kinds of guns that can be imported to the United States under the “sporting purpose” exception, and expand the requirements for who must obtain a federal license before selling a gun. Charles said he believes Biden could repeat the Department of Justice rulemaking process used by former president Donald Trump (R.) to ban bumpstocks in an attempt to ban other devices like AR-15 pistol braces. 

The lack of executive orders on gun control did not diminish support from activists. Giffords, a gun-control group that spent millions to elect Democrats in the 2020 election, celebrated Biden’s inauguration in an email to supporters on Wednesday. The activists insisted to supporters that the issue remains “a top priority.”

“This issue is a top priority for President Biden and Vice President Harris,” the email said. “The nation is behind them, and we have helped their transition team identify executive actions they can take on day one.”

Giffords did not respond to requests for comment about the lack of “day one” action.

The post Biden Skips Guns in Day One Executive Orders appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

An Alternative History of President Biden’s First Days in Office

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Washington Free Beacon

Editor’s Note: Everyone knows the U.S. media are compelled to report on Joe Biden’s celebrity-themed inauguration as one of the proudest moments in the history of American democracy. What this article presupposes is … maybe they shouldn’t be?

WASHINGTON—Joe Biden became the oldest president in American history on Wednesday under a cloud of controversy. Questions continue to swirl about his physical and mental health, while personal scandals continue to haunt the incoming commander in chief, potentially undermining his ability to lead the country in the midst of a deadly pandemic.

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Biden, 78, delivered a relatively short, reasonably coherent inaugural address in front of a sparse crowd of supporters and thousands of National Guard troops mobilized in an overzealous display of military force. Partisan media outlets hailed the speech as one of the greatest rhetorical achievements in the history of politics and described Biden’s inauguration as “a majestic day” and “the dawn of a new era.”

Biden, who at one point likened himself—without evidence—to Abraham Lincoln, declined to address the still-unresolved claim of sexual assault by former staffer Tara Reade and did not discuss the federal government’s ongoing investigation of his son, Hunter Biden, who is suspected of laundering money and committing tax fraud related to his questionable business ventures in China and Ukraine.

After the speech, which included an emotional (if unconvincing) appeal for “unity,” Biden proceeded to erase several years’ worth of Trump administration policies with the stroke of a pen. The president signed a whopping 17 executive orders to amend federal policy without the consent of Congress, further straining the historic bounds of the Constitution.

The unprecedented display of executive authority was followed by Biden’s norm-shattering decision to fire Peter Robb, general counsel at the National Labor Relations Board, in a blatant effort to appease Big Labor organizations that spent millions backing Democrats in 2020. Robb, whose four-year term was set to expire later this year, was terminated after he refused to resign voluntarily.

Meanwhile, Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Labor came under fire for funneling cash to one of the president’s top advisers. Months before he was announced as Biden’s nominee for labor secretary, Boston mayor Marty Walsh began using campaign funds to pay SKDKnickerbocker, the consulting firm founded by senior White House adviser Anita Dunn, for “consulting” services. The firm has raked in a total of $90,000 from Walsh since September 2020.

Despite his nominal commitment to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Biden was photographed at the Lincoln Memorial flaunting his own executive order, signed hours earlier, mandating the use of masks on federal property. Other members of the Biden family were also seen disregarding the public-safety measure, as the U.S. set a record for most COVID-19 deaths in a single day (4,409).

The following day, the Biden administration cynically accused the Trump administration of failing to produce a vaccine-distribution plan. Even hardcore Democratic loyalists such as Politico editor Sam Stein were forced to admit the accusations were “not true.”

While the Biden administration scrambled to confront the pandemic, which began in a communist country with ties to the president’s son, the partisan press eagerly sought to change the subject by reporting on the problematic changes to the Oval Office interior. The new additions, which Biden reportedly approved, included portraits of Franklin D. Roosevelt, architect of the racist Japanese-internment policy, and Benjamin Franklin, a notorious brothel hound.

The post An Alternative History of President Biden’s First Days in Office appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Dem Govs Flout Own COVID Restrictions to Attend Biden Inauguration

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Washington Free Beacon

Multiple Democratic governors defied their own COVID-19 gathering restrictions and travel recommendations to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer tweeted a photo from the ceremony and later said she “left with the feeling of great hope and optimism and determination.” The inauguration, however, violated Whitmer’s most recent “gatherings and face mask order,” which states that outdoor gatherings must be limited to 25 or fewer people. Around 2,000 people attended the inauguration, according to a Washington Post estimate. 

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Michigan state senator Aric Nesbitt called Whitmer’s hypocrisy “nothing new.” The Democrat previously attended a Detroit Black Lives Matter protest in June just days after expressing a “high level of concern” that such gatherings could expedite the spread of the virus. 

“Governor Whitmer has sadly been more focused on public relations and partisan politics instead of collaborating and making smart decisions to better help the people of Michigan,” Nesbitt told the Washington Free Beacon.

Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf and New Jersey governor Phil Murphy also attended the Wednesday ceremony. Both governors have chastised residents for traveling outside of their homes. Wolf’s administration urged Pennsylvanians to “avoid leaving their homes unless absolutely necessary” during the holiday season. The Democrat requires travelers entering the state to present a negative coronavirus test or quarantine for 10 days. A recent advisory released by the state of New Jersey, meanwhile, strongly discourages “all nonessential interstate travel at this time.” Outdoor gatherings are also limited to 25 people under Murphy, though “political activities” are exempt from the rule. 

Whitmer and Murphy did not return requests for comment on their attendance at the inauguration, as well as if either plans to quarantine following the event. Wolf’s office told the Free Beacon that the governor “is following the travel orders and guidelines in place and was tested within 72 hours prior to his planned return to the commonwealth.”

Whitmer has faced criticism throughout the pandemic for stay-at-home orders that shuttered “nonessential” local businesses while keeping large retailers—and marijuana dispensaries—open. The Democrat defended her presence at the inauguration by claiming that she did not violate her own restrictions.

“Anyone who watched would have seen that we were spaced out, we were outside, and we were masked up,” Whitmer said Wednesday evening. “I have been following the same directives I’ve asked everyone else to. I can’t stand those people that have one rule for others and a different one for themselves.”

But Whitmer’s public health guidelines state that outdoor public gatherings may never consist of “more than 25 people,” even with masks and social distancing required at such events. Indoor dining is also still banned in Michigan. Whitmer recently issued thousands of dollars in fines to restaurants and bars in violation of the order.

Whitmer, Murphy, and Wolf are not the only Democratic governors who have sidestepped their own coronavirus rules in recent months. California governor Gavin Newsom appeared to dine indoors with a sizable group at a posh Napa Valley restaurant in November. State guidelines at the time prohibited gatherings of more than three households and required six feet of distance between seats—Newsom’s group was not socially distant.

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Hockey Federation Pulls Championship From Belarus Over Political Unrest

Filed Under: INVESTIGATIONS, Washington Free Beacon

Belarus players celebrate their goal dur

The International Ice Hockey Federation pulled its 2021 championship series from Belarus after a pressure campaign from a bipartisan coalition of American lawmakers and international businesses wary of negative publicity.

The hockey federation was scheduled to hold its world championship later this year in Belarus despite mass human rights abuses by contested president Alexander Lukashenko, who has systematically cracked down on democratic dissidents and protesters who oppose his 26-year presidency. The federation announced this week that it would cancel the event in Minsk, citing “growing safety and security concerns related to both the rising political unrest and COVID-19.” The decision was reached after meetings between the Belarusian government and the federation, which determined “it is currently impossible to ensure the welfare of teams, spectators and officials.”

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U.S. lawmakers see the move as a hopeful sign, saying it creates momentum for other top sporting organizations to cut ties with authoritarian regimes, such as the Communist Party in China. The International Olympic Committee, for instance, has dismissed calls to move the 2022 Winter Olympics out of China, which the United States accused on Tuesday of committing genocide against the country’s Uighur population. The Communist Party’s efforts to imprison and silence democratic protesters in Hong Kong further fueled calls for the Olympics to cut ties with China. The National Basketball Association is also under fire for its partnerships with China, which many see as antithetical to its promotion of social justice issues in the United States.

“American sports stars have become international celebrities. Some of them are using their status for good: People like NBA star Enes Kanter who uses his fame to fight for human rights in Turkey. But many others are not—and in some cases are actually perpetuating the problem by publicly excusing it,” Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Washington Free Beacon. “American and international sports associations and their players should not turn a blind eye to the human rights abuses of authoritarian regimes simply because it’s good for their bottom line.”

McCaul, who was one of 18 lawmakers from both parties who petitioned the hockey federation in December to relocate its event from Belarus, said that other sports organizations should follow the group’s lead.

The United States’ genocide determination on China is certain to complicate matters for international sporting organizations that see the country as a lucrative business partner.

“The U.S. determination that genocide and crimes against humanity are occurring should be sufficient cause for the International Olympic Committee to reconsider Beijing as host for the Olympics,” said Olivia Enos, senior policy analyst at the Asian studies center of the Heritage Foundation’s Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy. “A country that is collectivizing and interning more than a million people in camps, forcibly sterilizing Uighur women, and subjecting their population to forced labor is not suited to host a privileged sporting event, most especially not the Olympics. The United States and the international community, including civil society, should publicly request that the International Olympic Committee reconsider China’s suitability to host the 2022 Olympics.” 

The NBA faced criticism in 2019 when a general manager for the Houston Rockets tweeted a pro-democracy message to the protesters in Hong Kong—prompting the league to distance itself from the manager after China canceled televised NBA games and the sale of merchandise. Since then, the NBA has been reticent on the human rights situation in China, and their partnerships have remained intact.

The International Olympic Committee has also been reluctant to criticize the Communist regime.

“The International Olympic Committee has once again shown their lack of concern for the CCP’s escalating human rights violations, whether it be the Uighur Muslims, the Tibetan monks, or the Christian population,” McCaul said on the House floor in November, when he introduced legislation to inform U.S. Olympic athletes about the perils of participating in the Winter Olympic Games.

McCaul is expected to reintroduce a version of this legislation sometime this year, according to sources familiar with the matter.

In petitioning the International Ice Hockey Federation to withdraw its championship from Belarus, lawmakers made clear that nations engaged in mass atrocities should not enjoy the benefits associated with holding a high-profile sporting event.

“Belarus, and any other country that does not represent the ethos of good sportsmanship and human rights, should not enjoy the privilege of hosting such a coveted event until the rights, freedoms, and sovereignty of their people are fully respected and represented by their government,” wrote the lawmakers, who included McCaul, as well as Reps. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.), Jamie Raskin (D., Md.), and Ted Deutch (D., Fla.).

The post Hockey Federation Pulls Championship From Belarus Over Political Unrest appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

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